Purposeful Work – The New Retirement Solution

How do you really want to spend the second half of your life? Is your goal to retire someday or perhaps you’re planning on working forever? Have you ever thought about what it would be like to get paid to follow your passion and fulfill your life purpose — would it even be considered work anymore?

In a recent “Retirement Confidence Survey” conducted by the Employee Benefits Research Institute they asked “How confident are you about Retirement?”

The results were:

American workers are more pessimistic about their ability to retire comfortably than at any time since the survey began about 20 years ago.

The lack of confidence may actually be good news, according to EBRI, because it means Americans may be waking up to the realities of retirement including the need to save more than they are currently.

According to the survey about one‐third of workers tapped their retirement savings to pay for day‐to‐day expenses and many of them didn’t have much saved in the first place.

Just 59% of workers are currently saving for retirement and one‐half of them have less than $25,000 tucked away, according to the survey.

Work is the new retirement. This new awareness of the cost of retirement may be one reason that many people ‐‐ of all ages and income levels ‐‐ are planning to work after they retire.

A recent Gallup Poll found that about 80% of Americans plan to work during retirement.

Most plan to work part‐time, although some say they may need to work full‐time just to make ends meet.

The silver lining, for those who were looking forward to a retirement of full‐time leisure, is that people who continue to work during retirement often experience better health than those who don’t work, according to studies cited on LiveScience.com.

As long as the work remains low stress, retirees who labor are less likely to suffer from major diseases such as cancer, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease. They are also less likely to become depressed.

This is great news…because I see many of us continuing to work – but doing something we absolutely love…I call this Retiring To Something Not From Something…and I have a whole program around this!

I love Costa Rica…and have been there six times and I may even live there someday. In fact, just last March I took 10 women on a seven day Create Your Perfect Life Retreat. The experience was informational and many of the women are reinventing their lives. It’s an amazing and spiritual place. One of the places I visit, the Nicoya Peninsula, is known as one of the Blue Zones in the world. A place known for the highest number of centenarians – people 100 years or older.

After looking into this, I learned that these were the key factors for the local people known as Ticos’ amazing longevity and happiness:

A strong sense of community.

Organic, vine ripened fruits and vegetables

Fresh, high mineral content (like calcium) in the water

And lifetime physical labor

Story:

When I was in Costa Rica with my daughter for her 18th birthday, we noticed how happy all the “Ticos” were even though most of us in the US would say they were living in poverty.

Our condo overlooked the ocean, and one day we were sitting in the shade and looking across the street watching this group of Ticos working on the hot roof in the 95 degree sun.

They were mixing cement by hand and building these pillars, climbing ladders and pouring the cement into these handmade structures bucket by bucket. It seems just grueling…and you know what they were doing? Singing! They live very simply and work very hard, but they are joyful too.

At night, they pile into the back of pickups to go home on dusty dirt roads to very simple lifestyles. But they are happy and this is the key!

I believe that the “New Retirement” for most of us will consist of a simpler lifestyle with less consumerism and working at something we are passionate about – that allows us to fulfill our life purpose – even making a difference in the world. And I see us doing this into our mid to late 70’s. Look around you and you will see many vibrant 70 year olds doing amazing things and having fun. Remember, we will probably end up living into our late 80s and 90s.

This could provide several important financial benefits:

Working longer could allow you to delay how soon you take your Social Security benefits.

In fact your benefit grows by approximately 8% each year from age 62 (the earliest age you can begin collecting) until age 70. Claiming at age 70 instead of age 62 increases your lifetime monthly benefit by 76%

It will allow you to grow your retirement nest egg, rather than taking income so early.

Let’ say you have $500,000 at 60 years old. Allowing it to continue to grow at 7% per year means it could double in 10 years or age 70 making you a millionaire.

It could even allow you to increase your defined pension employer benefits.

So some individuals may choose to stay employed longer while others will choose to retire, reinvent and follow their calling creating what some call a Second Act. In the next weeks, I will be writing in more detail about some of these successful second acts and sharing stories of individuals who are creating wealth, making a difference and living a live they truly love.

I’ve created a free 30 minute video where I share not only my story, but the step by step process called The Six Pillars of Awakened Prosperity System™ that I use to help my clients create their perfect life and business. I hope you enjoy it and share it with your friends!

Katana Abbott, CFP® is a Life and Legacy Wealth Coach™, international retreat leader, radio show host, speaker and author. At 48, with over $100 million in assets under management, she sold her financial planning business to her partner of 15 years. She left to follow her calling, reinvent herself, and to create her perfect life and business (and so can you). With 30 years of financial and business experience, she can help you create wealth, make a difference and live a life you love!